New computer, windows 11

[charles kasler]

I was dreading this for a long time but I finally had to do it. I can't find all of my projects in window 11, they're certainly not in the same file system as before. I did a search for one and nothing turned up. A second question is if I ever get this straightened out, all of those plugins or most of them need to be reinstalled. At this point I'm thinking of simplifying and just choosing the few that are most useful. Any advice on finding the projects or on how you handle all of those plugins we've acquired over the years? Thank you

[reginaldStjohn]

Your title says it is a new computer. Did you transfer you old hardrive contents to your new computer? Did you put the old hardrive in the new computer?

Windows 11 should not mess with your files on the filesystem just by installing it. However, if it is a new hardrive you will have to transfer all your files over and re-install all your software.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

Nowhere near enough information

What previous versions did you own? Once this is known, you'll know which one(s) need to be installed to get the plugins back.

If it's anew computer, how do you expect to be able to view or load projects from a previous system? Did you backup the old system or dump your projects onto an external drive?

Ditto for any third party plugins. They would have to be reinstalled. Have you made a note of any authorisation codes?

[Bass Guitar]

I have changed computers at least 6 times since I started using Sonar back when a 20 GB hard drive was considered Huge!! 
I always had at least 2 hard drives and then later 3. My newest build has 4. 

I have never lost a project because I have always set Sonar to save as Per Project folders and always keep the Copy Audio box checked. And the location is always a second drive. 
 

When it was time for a new computer all my projects were then transferred to the new computer which would also have a new data drive.
The transfer was done by either using an external drive or by removing the old data drive and put it in an external drive enclosure then copy it to the new computer. 

I still have most of those old drives in a shoebox. 

The absolute most important thing is to always use per project folder system. Even if you only have one hard drive as in a laptop. 
 

This way all the audio files are stored within the folder along with the CWP file. I also try and store other things in there like the lyrics and the exported master. I now also keep a midi file copy as well. Takes 2 seconds “Save As” midi 1. 
 

I could go dig the very oldest hard drive out of the box and if it still spins up I would have access to all my projects from that era. 
 

At this moment in time my most important projects in their most updated version are backed up to at least 6 places. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Bass Guitar

[charles kasler]

Thanks for all of your replies. It's a new computer with a new hard drive, I had a computer shop do the transfer for me. So they should have copied all of my personal files like music and pictures to the new computer. Maybe they're there but I just can't find them and neither can sonar. I just remembered I do have a backup so maybe I can move the latest backup project files over to the new computer, that would be a simple fix. I've just been overwhelmed because Windows 11's looks so much different from Windows 10 to my eyes, at least the file structure. I do have a download folder for plugins but didn't keep track of authorization numbers. Most of them are small and many of them free. Thanks again for your interest

[AB99]

Glad you have a backup.   As you may know, it is always wise to use a non-C drive (non-operating system drive) for sample libraries, audio files, and project files.   And it is a good idea to store projects on multiple drives.  Some even go so far as to say, that storage in a cloud is also wise.  

I hope you find all the files you want!

[Helios.G]

22 minutes ago, charles kasler said:

Thanks for all of your replies. It's a new computer with a new hard drive, I had a computer shop do the transfer for me. So they should have copied all of my personal files like music and pictures to the new computer. Maybe they're there but I just can't find them and neither can sonar. I just remembered I do have a backup so maybe I can move the latest backup project files over to the new computer, that would be a simple fix. I've just been overwhelmed because Windows 11's looks so much different from Windows 10 to my eyes, at least the file structure. I do have a download folder for plugins but didn't keep track of authorization numbers. Most of them are small and many of them free. Thanks again for your interest

Respectfully, I've never let anyone transfer anything for me.  Unless you know the people at the shop personally, you just don't know how responsible or not they're going to be with your data.   Do you have access to your old drive at all?  I'd search on that if you still have it.  Plugins you can re-install, but old projects, you should've found those easily, if you haven't, they're not there.

[Bristol_Jonesey]

24 minutes ago, charles kasler said:

Maybe they're there but I just can't find them and neither can sonar

Do a Windows search for .cwp files

[Amberwolf]

There are a number of things that can keep user files from being transferred from one drive to another, and I have not worked with many techs (back when i was lead tech at a computer repair shop) that had much of a clue that it was even a thing, much less able to deal with them in order to get user data from one drive to another, etc.   

There are various softwares that can help with this, some automaticaly and some with various user-choices, but again, not many techs either know they exist, or the shops don't have licenses to use them commercially so only the techs that know about them and are willing to (in most cases) illegally use them in a commercial enviroment will be able to use them.

So not all data ends up transferred, and some techs will even do stupid things like *move* the data or erase the source drive, without notifying the user.   (I stopped working in computer-related jobs because I got tired of being yelled at for other people's stupid choices and actions, both those of the users and of the techs).

 

[charles kasler]

Thanks again everyone, I do have the old computer and we'll see what I can do with that. Good idea to search for cwp files